30 Nisan 2013 Salı

EDELZWICKER BLEND WINE

EDELZWICKER BLEND WINE
My love for wine took me all the way down to spectacular wine growing region of Alsace. The last week of March was definately not the best time to visit the region since it was still quiete cold, but since this trip was my birthday present to myself; I shouldn't be complaining about the cold! I've had already tried some very good Alsatian wines before I went there but only there, I've learned about the "Edelzwicker Blend". I've tried that in one of the typical restaurants and simply enjoyed a lot! Then searching about it, I've figured out that:

"Edelzwicker is an Alsatian term taken from the German words edel (noble) and zwicker (blend). The term dates back to 1644 and it was applied to differentiate those called noble ones from the lesser quality grapes. Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer and Muscat fell into noble category while Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner, Chasselas and Auxerrois were on the other side... Edelzwicker wines were made only from noble varieties until 1970 when the term was deregulated. 

As there are so many blendin possibilities, it is extremely difficult to narrow down the flavor profile of the Edelzwicker wines. However they tend to have a clear yellow coloring and fragnant aromas.
Best with salads!


2005 Marques de Caceres Gaudium, Rioja DOCa, Spain


2005 Marques de Caceres Gaudium, Rioja DOCa, Spain

I love few Riojas, Gaudium is one of them! This particularly has been one of my elections for my 35th birthday and we've all loved it! One should choose this for a special ocasion... I've paid 45 Euros for the bottle. Absolutely worths it! 


Tasting notes

Marqués de Caceres Gaudium Grand Vino 2005. Very dark, almost black, garnet colour. Rich and complex bouquet combining notes of morello cherries, coffee and tobacco with a depth of soft spice. Very full in the mouth where dense and refined tannins provide a balanced structure that mingles with mature fruit and nice complexity. This wine has the body to develop further in the bottle over years. Choose Gaudium for a special occasion. It will complement all kinds of quality meat, grilled, roasted or served in source, especially suckiling pig, roasted Lamb, beef fillet or Iberian style port. A perfect match for Fois Gras. light game dishes and cheese.

Score: 94.
The Wine-Searcher score of 94/100 is calculated from the following wine critic scores:
CriticScore
95/100  
92/100 

2011 Castello d'Albola Friuli Aquileia Pinot Grigio, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy


2011 Castello d'Albola Friuli Aquileia Pinot Grigio, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy

For the ocasion of my 35th birthday, I've decided to make a cruise holiday and took my family with me. We've made a Royal Caribbean's Dubai Cruise all over the Arabian Gulf callig at several Emirates and Oman. Onboard, I've had the ocasion of tasting different kind of wines. This was one of it. Not bad, but not very interesting either. Though I truely love Pinot Grigio, this wasn't my favorite.



Tierra Alta Cabernet Sauvignon 2010


Tierra Alta Cabernet Sauvignon 2010

A very regular Cabernet Sauvignon from the Colchagua Valley of Chile. I'm totally convinced that the wines from the Colchagua Valley are better when compared with the other vine growing parts of the country... It costs about 7 Euros and wouldn't disappoint you, wouldn't satisfy you deeply neither! 14%

2010 Weingut Anselmann 'im Barrique gereift' Dornfelder Trocken, Pfalz, Germany


2010 Weingut Anselmann 'im Barrique gereift' Dornfelder Trocken, Pfalz, Germany

First of all I would like to say that I've bought this wine because I've seen the gold medal over the neck of the bottle... and the second thing, I've thought that it would be nice to try a good German Red. But I really don't know if a really very good German Red exists! I'm deeply in love with some German whites but this has been a total disappointment for me. I didn't like anything about this wine. Actually we were trying 4 of us and neither of us liked it. Too acidic and no balanced taste...

Dornfelder is created in 1956 by August Herold as a crossing of Helfensteiner and Heroldrebe. However, since these two grape varieties are also crossings, its lineage includes almost every red wine grown in Germany. With a relatively high alcohol rate of 14,5%, it costed me aroud 9 Euros. Never would buy it again...


2009 Asara Estate Cape Fusion, Stellenbosch, South Africa


2009 Asara Estate Cape Fusion, Stellenbosch, South Africa

This is a quiete regular wine which is priced at around 6 Euros... but the fact is that since I don't really know much about the South African wines, this has been a good introduction for me. The bottle was brought to me by a friend of mine which had recently been to South Africa. Stellenbosch is an important wine producing district located 50 km east of Cape Town. It has a well drained hilly terrain and the overall climate there is Mediterranean. Seems that first vines were planted there by Huguenot settlers in 1690. 

It's a blend of Pinotage / Shiraz / Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The grape variety "Pinotage", which is a crossing of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut, was created in proper Stellenbosch in 1925. "Pinot" part is taken from Burgundy's prestigious red grape type Pinot Noir, and "age" part is taken from "Hermitage", which is one of the several local names for Cinsaut. It has an alcohol degree of 14%. I'll definately be trying some better South African wines!